“Oh my god McKenna!” she drops the sword and falls back onto her bottom.
“My god what are you?” I lean forward and lift the sword from the ground. From now on when The Order sends one of you to murder us I will murder every one of you. If you come for me you will die.” I lift it into the air and Keyan stops me by grabbing my arm.
“No love. Don’t. She isn’t worth it.”
“She tried to kill you Keyan. They killed me.”
“I know but let’s just go.” He grabs my arm and pulls me toward the car.
“I want her dead Keyan.” I yell. “All she is going to do is follow us and keep trying to kill us.”
“Love we have to go. Please?” he pleads. I follow as he leads me back to the car. When we get to it he stops and turns me to face him. “I saw her sever your life-ring. How is this possible?” I look at him and he is stunned by what he sees in my eyes.
“Oh my god! Your life-ring…It has changed McKenna. It is gold and is circling your pupil. It doesn’t have an end. It’s an eternal circle love. How?”
“We need to go see my dad and find out.” I toss the sword high into the air and it lands standing straight up in the grass. I notice that the clerk from the service station is calling the police. He is in a state of panic. “Get into the car Keyan. That guy is calling the cops.” I look back to Raven who is sitting on the ground, eyes as wide as an owl. “If you decide to come for us, I will kill you next time Raven.” She slides back away from my glare. I turn my back to her and open the car door. She props herself up on her knees and begins to follow after the falconer that fled. I watch as she disappears into the distance.
We waste no time hopping into the car. Keyan starts the engine and speeds out onto the highway. I watch as the man runs out to check on the hunter. He bends down beside her body and they disappear from my view.
We drive as fast as we can back toward Myrtle Beach. It will take the remainder of the day to get there. Hopefully we make it before the police catches up with us. I flip the mirror down to grab a peek at myself. There are no marks from the constant attempts to murder me today. I turn my neck from side to side. Not a scratch. It’s amazing. I look into my eyes. I spot my new and improved life-ring. It is beautiful. It looks like a shiny gold wedding band. It circles my pupil just as Keyan stated. I tilt my head and move in to get a closer look. My eyes have even changed in color. I see a hint of gray inside of the brown of my alluring new peepers. Keyan glances over at me and reaches for my hand. He takes it and kisses it ever so gently. That is his signature ‘I’m glad to have you in my life’ move. My head drops away from the mirror and I think about dying.
“Did you die?” he asks.
“I think I did. I mean I felt like I died. But I felt my strength return to me with a surge of extreme power. I’m just as confused.”
He sighs. “I thought that you were dead McKenna. My heart was broken. I wanted to die.”
“I know. I felt it. The moment that you gave up I couldn’t feel anything else. I thought that I had left you alone in this world.”
“I did as well. But you’re alive and unharmed. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”
“I’m more than alive Keyan. I’m something else.” His eyes remain on the road and he speeds toward home.~
I watch as we enter Myrtle Beach, NC my home. I haven’t been here all summer. The little time that we spent here a month ago was horrifying and unforgettable. Keyan heads straight to my father’s warehouse. It’s around 3am and the streets are deserted just like they were when I left. Keyan takes the back road that leads to my dad’s underground lab. My heart starts to pound because I don’t know whether he is going to help or hurt us. We pull in front of the building and he shuts off the engine. He sighs and looks over at me.
“Are you sure that you want to do this?”
“I’m positive. He is the only person that can explain what the hell is going on. All of the questions that we had before can be answered now Keyan. We will stick together no matter what.” He nods and agrees that we won’t separate again. We get out and approach the building that we ran away from not so long ago.
I walk up to the door clutching Keyan’s hand in mine. The garage door raises when I mash the button. It is quiet. Maybe I should have went home first. My dad will most likely be tucked snuggly in the bed next to mom. I decide that we should go up to the mating suite. I doubt that Amari is there. And if she is I will finish what I started at the hut of sluts. Keyan smiles as he hears my plotting thoughts. I dial my father’s code into the back elevator and it buzzes, loud. I think back and try to focus on the numbers. I’m positive that it was 33215, so I punch it in one more time. It buzzes and I step back.
“Of course he changed it McKenna.” I suck spit into my teeth making a smacking sound. He giggles. When I decide to just go back to the car and head home, five huge men rush toward us. I take a defensive stand.
“No love let’s just let them take us. We can have them call your dad.”
“No. what if they try to tranquilize us?”
“Look guys…” Keyan says raising his hands into the air. “This is McKenna Duvall, Dr. Duvall’s daughter. Can you call him and relay the message to him that she needs his help immediately?”
One of the men step forward and his face has the hint of healed scars and fading bruises. I recognize him as the guard that I totally banged up with the fire extinguisher. He frowns. “I remember her very well. He rushes toward me and grabs my arm.
“Don’t even try to hurt us. It will be a big mistake.” I say as he drags me along. Keyan follows behind and two guards grab him. He waves a badge and the elevator opens. They watch us like hawks as we descend. When the doors open there is a handsome young man standing there in a lab coat. He has his arms folded.
His hair is short and blonde with a spikey hip shape to it. His eyes are the brightest hazel color. He has on a pair of khakis pants, white dress shirt with a brown and cream tie. He appears to be about 18 or 19. I wonder what the hell he is doing down here.
“McKenna!” he steps forward and hugs me. Keyan attempts to rip his arm away from the guards. “I thought that you were dead.” He sighs and rubs his hand down the back of my head then releases me. I’m totally confused about who this guy could be.
“Ummm, do I know you?” I say pulling my arms together and folding them to shrug.
“Yes. You’ve known me all of your life dear.”
I frown. He is seriously mistaken. I have never seen this dude in my life. I look over at Keyan and he is as puzzled as I am.
“Look closely darling.” He leans in and I recoil.
“Don’t get any closer to her. And that is not a request sir.” Keyan says so politely.
“Keyan calm down. Can’t you feel me?” I lean in and look into his eyes. He has a spiral life-ring. Our Amaranth radar is completely broken.
“You’re Amaranth…okay?” I say sarcastically.
“No Kenna. It’s me…Jacques. Your dad?”
“Dad? How? What have you done to yourself?”
“I will answer all of your questions after you answer mine. What happened in Indiana? I thought that you died. Your mom is very upset. She packed up this morning after your chip went offline.”
Chapter 29
I tilt my head as I realize what this young stranger has said. First he tells me that he is my father. He is about thirty seven years too young. This man is about my age. Now he tells me that I had a chip inside of me that went offline.
“Listen you asshole. I don’t know who the hell you are and what kind of games that you are playing but where is my dad. I need his help.”
“I am your dad Kenna. I was there at your fifth birthday when your mom hired a zoo full of animals. I was there the first time you cried over Rylan. Remember it was sophomore year and you thought that he was taking Litzy to the spring formal? I am your father I’ve just changed on the outside.” He says as he enters an exam room and flips on the light.
&n
bsp; “But…”
Keyan eyes tear as he remembers every memory that this stranger has described. “Listen to him McKenna.” I look back to this man’s face and I see my dad in his eyes.
“That will be all for now guys. I will shout if I need you.” the men release Keyan’s arm and the guard that was trailing me nods. They all leave and he sits on an exam table. I sit on a stool in the corner and Keyan stands beside me. “When you were ten, I had a tracking chip inserted into your brain. It could not be deactivated unless you died. It was connected to your neural activity. So when your brain dies it would automatically deactivate itself. So when it deactivated this morning I assumed that you were dead.”
“Okay?”
“What happened to you darling?”
“No dad you first.”
“Please honey I need to know what happened.”
“Well Keyan activated me as his mate a couple of weeks ago.”
“I see that. I can feel it.”
“Well you know about the compound, but Raven caught up with us quicker than we thought. She had two more hunters with her. We started to fight. I was stabbed in the chest and I didn’t get hurt, at all. I didn’t even bleed dad.” He folds his arms and completely lends me his ear. “I was so stunned by my ability to heal so quickly that she jabbed her dagger directly into my eye. I felt my life slip away from me.”
“Wait! Your life-ring was severed?”
“Yes. And my life ended. Then out of nowhere I started to feel surges of electricity course through my veins into my heart and up to my brain. It’s like someone gave me a jump. I got up and started to help Keyan. They were going to kill him. I felt like a super hero. I was fast and strong. I killed her. Then Raven sliced a sword right through my neck attempting to sever my head but it didn’t even move. The wound healed before the sword came out of the other side of my neck dad. And look…” I lean forward to show him my new life-ring. “My ring is gold and has no end.” He stands and paces the room.
“You died and then…oh my goodness McKenna. I need to run some tests but I believe we have a new species of Amaranth. This is amazing.”
“Before you run any tests I want to know what is up with the backstreet dad that I have now.”
“I used dialysis to flush my blood with Keyan’s blood. I reverted back to activation age. I will live my first two hundred years as an eighteen year old. I begged your mother the change with me but she refused.”
“Oh okay… soooo…if someone is already old they will revert to activation age if activated by an Amaranth?”
“Yes. Isn’t that amazing?”
“I guess. I have so many questions for you dad.”
“And I will do my best to answer them all after I run some tests.”
“Dad can you promise me one thing?”
“Yes anything what is it?”
“Don’t try to use me for experiments. And leave Keyan alone.”
“I no longer need him Kenna. I have everything that I needed when you guys ran. That’s why I didn’t chase you. I had enough blood from him to do the miraculous things that I have done since you guys fled. I wish that you wouldn’t have chosen to run with him but…”
“Dad I just want to say one more thing…” I stand and walk toward the door.
“Why didn’t you tell me about all of this before now? I would have slept with Rylan and poof our lives would have changed forever.”
“But you didn’t, so crisis adverted.”
I shake my head. My father is insane. I take his spot on the exam table and he hurries to get the things that he needs to test my blood. He has an assistant come in and help him with the samples. I sit as they break needle after needle to collect blood. I heal so rapidly that the needles aren’t able to stay inside of my arm long enough. They are only able to get a small sample, so he decides to take a few strands of my hair. The man that is assisting him asks if he can get a sample from my eye. I agree. I no longer fear the severance of my life-ring. I lie back and I instantly feel Keyan tense up. I reach out for his hand and he takes hold. I lie still while the man slowly sticks the needle into my eye. It barely grazes the surface and he sucks some liquid into the vial. He is only able to get a very small amount before the tissue around the eye becomes rock hard. He has to yank the needle out. He looks at my dad and they are amazed.
“Kenna if I’m correct, you have evolved into an impenetrable, indestructible Amaranth. There is none recorded in history.”
“It may have something to do the fact that you have been experimenting on yourself. You have mixed so many different types of blood with yours that it made me super amaranthine.”
“You may be right darling. As a matter of fact there is one more thing that I have to tell you and Keyan.” He clutches his hands together and starts to fidget. “Follow me.” We start to follow behind him. Keyan nervously looks over to me and grips my hand tightly.
“What is it now?” he whispers. I shrug.
“Now I know that this is going to upset the both of you. But remember I did it all in the name of science.” He stops at a door that reads ‘cryogenic chamber room.’ Terror appears in Keyan’s eyes. I rub his hand. What the hell is behind door number one Bob? The door slides open after my dad quickly enters a new code that I have made a note of once more. “44785. Come on dad you can do better than that.”
“I want you to have the main access code. You and Keyan have my permission to go into whatever area that you like.”
“Thanks. I think?” we step into the technical room. There are computers everywhere. I release Keyan’s hand. I turn in a complete circle. When my eyes rest on two human sized cylinder shaped tubes I gasp. “Please tell me that this is not who I think it is. Dad…why?”
“I obtained the corpses of the McGrath’s several years before you were born. After they were killed The Hunters returned for their remains. They wanted to keep them as trophies as they have done for centuries. I thought that I could use their tissue to heal the sick but when the cells of an Amaranth die I guess they’re dead. Well that’s what I thought anyway until you happened dear. I injected DNA from the McGrath experiment into me about two years before your mother got pregnant. But I assumed that nothing happened. I guess that after the DNA was second generational it mutated into what you are. Mixed with the hundreds of other Amaranthine blood that I injected into myself.”
“You are a very sick individual Mr. Duvall. How could you desecrate my parents’ remains that way? It’s sick, it’s abominable.”
“I apologize Keyan. I was a very ill and desperate person. Now that I have found you I have cured so many people of life threatening diseases. It is a miraculous discovery, you are a miraculous discovery and now my daughter.” He smiles.
“Father, you are changing the world. You can’t do this. Every human that gets ill can’t be changed. It will wipe out the entire human race.”
“So what. They will live forever. I will live forever.” He sings.
“The world would become crowded and overpopulated. That is what the Order of the Falcons are trying to prevent. You are infecting an entire race of people for the sake of science. You can’t do that.”
“So you want to be selfish with what you have been given? You want to be the only person who is granted eternal essence. That is very selfish of you honey.”
“Dad you sound like a mad man.”
“I just want to immobilize sickness and disease. Can’t you see that?”
“What we have is considered a disease to some. You can’t take that choice away from their race. With all of the promiscuity in the world the human race will be extinct in a few years.”
“You are looking at it as a negative thing. We’ll be a superior race Kenna. Think about it.”
“I am. There will be super criminals that can’t die because he was treated by your super cure. And now law enforcement will be helpless to them. And I know what you’re going to say next. Make law enforcement Amaranth. My point exactly.”
&n
bsp; “You don’t understand the gift that you have been given darling.”
“I’m tired dad. I’m going to bed. We’re going to stay in the mating suite tonight. Tell me what results you come up with as far as I’m concerned.” I grab hold of Keyan who is horrified by my disturbed father. He takes one last look at his parent’s decayed bones and shakes his head.
“Before you go…I want you to know that Amari will be joining me in the morning. She will be my mate since your mother decided that she wanted to stay regular.”
“Dad? Never mind you have lost it. I have no father anymore.”
“Right. I’m now you’re handsome cousin from Seattle.” He smiles. He is so pleased with himself. We walk hand and hand to the elevator. I mash the buttons as I enter my dad’s new code. When we get up to the suite a lot has changed. It has been upgraded tremendously. I don’t take too long admiring renovations. I drag Keyan along toward the bedroom. I’m sure there have been several saps that were activated in this bed by Amari the whore. For the moment she is the last thing that I want to think about.
Chapter 30
Sunday October 6th 2013 Keyan and I sleep like bears hibernating during winter. When we are finally wakened by my dad two days have passed. Besides getting up to use the restroom we have did nothing but sleep. The days on the run affected us more than we thought. I sit up and my dad offers me lunch. I skeptically glare at the food on the tray.
“Come on darling. You two need to eat. You’ve been locked away up here for days. I wouldn’t hurt you honey. You are my only child. I would lay my life down for you.” he lies.
“Dad you took me into the mountains to find a man that may have been insane. He sure looked insane.” I say. “What kind of parent does that? If you loved me so much you would have never thrust me into this hidden world.”
“I do love you McKenna. And because I did you are a miracle walking.” He sits onto the edge of the bed. “Your DNA has completely transformed. I have samples from before you were activated and it is amazing honey.”
The Solitarian: Part 1 of The Amaranth Series Page 17